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Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Cinderella Part II of III

Dapper Day @ Disneyland


Well, I have to be honest and say that I had this post all written up and it was almost completed.  Then I went to preview it and the program froze.  I refreshed to reset it and it had reverted back to the state it was before I'd started writing that day; just photos.  

For me this kind of thing is rough.  It took away all of the inspiration to write this post up for you, because I'd already done it it once.  Now I feel like it might loose some of it's luster.  Please bear with me and if it doesn't glitter, keep in mind that the next posting will not have this problem.  I'm still very excited to share with you the big Cinderella movie experience!

Part II


The weekend of the event had arrived!  All my costume preparation came to fruition and even though I still had some last minute sewing to do, I had a little bit of time to do it, no problem.  I started the weekend at the Women's Retreat for my church and was to end it with a day at Disneyland.

Side note: I've yet to complete a single costume anytime but the night before or day of it's first event.

After the evening retreat meeting the night before the big day, I went back to my cabin and put my hair up in pin curls to prepare it for the next day and then sewed on the last of the tiny seed beads detailed in the "Part I" posting.

The next morning I took my curls out and every bit of it just fell out flat.  I looked like a lioness for maybe 10 minutes and it went ever increasingly flat from that moment on.  It was a rainy day, so it made sense.  I put up the front in a tiny bouffant so that it would be out of my face.  If I hadn't I'd be frustrated with it all day.  I added in the tiny little stick on rhinestones I got from Michaels crafts and stuck them randomly all over my hair.  (They actually stayed all day and I had to yank them out in the evening before bed)

Getting dressed and ready, then driving to Disneyland from retreat went smoothly and before I knew it I was parked and heading into the happiest place on earth.

I was to meet a new and dear friend to spend the day with her.  We have just started to get to know each other, but it's like we've known each other for a long time.  I made a dress for her for this event and got to know her through the process. (There will be a posting about her dress soon).  Upon arrival I contacted her and her fiance and found that they were about to board the pirate ship in the Caribbean.  I parked myself at the exit and waited for them to disembark.

While waiting I ran into these cool cats, I mean dogs....lol

Cruella Deville gender bend and Perdita and there lovely friend in blue.  I'm not sure if she was themed, but if she was I'm so sorry I didn't catch it.  We took some photos all around, me of them, them of me.



Then I joined up with Sarah & Justin for getting the day started.  We embarked the Jungle Cruise first. It's one of my favorite ways to start a day at the park.  Relaxing while being filled with quick witty humor.



Then on to Fantasyland, which is the most fitting place for a Disney princesses to be.  We ran into this lovely lady on the way.  Her good friend made her Cinderella gown for her.  Isn't she lovely?


On our way through the castle gates we decided upon taking the carousel the rest of the way.  The noble steeds were ready and waiting for us to ride off into the kingdom with them.



We rode Pinocchio's ride after that, stopping to take photos with this lovely stained glass window at our backdrop.  While we were on the ride we designed and talked about doing Pinocchio themed gowns.  The little dutch girl and show girl puppets with Justin maybe being Jiminy Cricket, or Pinocchio or something fun like that.


We also ran into a woman I met at the last Dapper Day.  We were talking to each other, Sarah & I about how lovely her light yellow eyelet fabric dress was and how it looked like it might be quilted too when it dawned on me that I knew her.  I called out her name, as she was a ways ahead of us in line, "Caroline" and she turned around and looked over.  I told her that I had met her last year.  She wore a beautiful purple dress that I believe she said her mom made.  It was a funny chance meeting.





















Once we'd thoroughly explored Fantasyland, we were ready for a break for our feet.  So we rode the monorail.  I was ready to go over and enjoy the Expo at the Grand Californian Hotel and they were ready to go off on their own for a bit.  We rode over to Downtown Disney, the closest station for me to pop over to the Expo and made plans to meet back up afterward for evening fun in the California Adventure Park.









My phone had died so I don't have any photos from the Expo, but it was a joyful time of exploration.  There were so many vendors, more than last year.  One of them had all sorts of lovely vintage sewing patterns, so I spent quite a bit of time looking through each of the bins.  I procured these lovelies for future sewing fun.


There was also a vendor that had beautiful jewelry made out of wood.  I'm not sure if it was dye cut, laser cut, or what, but they were masterfully done and then I'm sure hand painted.  I'm surely a fan of anything hand painted, as I was a sign painter for years.  They had a few that were made to go with the Dapper Day spring theme, "it's going to be sweet" and their promotion flyer which had an image of an orange, with blossoms.  It was beautiful and I'll get into it more when I do the dress post for Sarah's Dapper Day attire, because I had dreamed of making a theme dress for the day with fruit fabric.  As a result of their fine work, the event's theme, and the fruit dress that Sarah was wearing, I picked up the pin pictured here, under the Dapper Day pin.


Sarah loved her brooch and when we met back up we started to venture into the adventure park.  At this point it was dark, so photography became harder, but there are a few fun photos for your viewing pleasure.

Here there was a window display for the Dapper Day theme.



The Adventure Park was a blast. We went on some rides that I've been on and some that I never had before.  I had long since exchanged out of my heels for flat slippers so my feet were happier puppies.  We rode a few cars land rides, the carousel of sea creatures, woody's roundup, the little mermaid, and others before calling it a night.

Thank you Sarah & Justin for an amazingly fun adventure and a successful trip in my new dress!





Monday, March 23, 2015

Cinderella Completed - Part I of III

I've been working on this blog post for an entire week now and it has become so big that it will take too long to finish before I can share any of it with you.  That lead me to the conclusion that I should break it into parts.  At first I thought I'd break it into two parts, construction & events.  However, the two events that I've worn this to each have their own story and have become large posts on their own.  That is why I have determined to break it into three parts.  I will release them on separate dates, so please stick with me, because the third one is the biggest and the bestest.

Happy Reading!

Cinderella Completed - Part I

 

 
Well now is the time that I have the honor of sharing this project's completion with you.  First, I'd like to recap. I had inspiration, sometime in January, to make a gown for the new Cinderella movie.  At the same time, I was wondering what I was going to make for the upcoming Spring Dapper Day at Disneyland.  I like going in 1950's attire when I "step out in style" at this event.  The combination of these two thought processes lead me to combine my efforts.  The design became decided, that my Cinderella would be a 1950's rendition of the gown, to be worn at the ball in the new live action movie, as pictured above.





















I went to my favorite local thrift store for my first stop to shop for fabric.  Amazingly there was a shower curtain in the linen department.  It was a sheer blue, with a bit of a shimmer to it, in the right color range.  It cost me a few dollars, along with some closely matching bedsheets for the solid fabric for the bodice and slip in the skirt.

My next thrift store stop, while shopping for something completely different, is where I found the shoes.  $7 silver high heels with gem stones secured to it, completely covering the shoes surface.

I found butterflies and seed beads at JoAnn fabric store, along with notions.  Then I shuffled through my pattern box(es) to find ones that would work for the vision I had of the complete gown.  I found Simplicity's "Mirror Mirror" pattern #1728.  It would work for the bodice, minus the puff sleeves. Then I pulled out a basic skirt pattern, any full skirt pattern would do, once it was adjusted to the proper length.  Then I was off and running, (with scissors), lol.



The process of putting this costume together went fairly well. The bodice came together quickly as you can see in the production photo below that shows it in a partial state of progress.  I wanted a "v" in the front but not the back, so this pattern would work well for my design. I modified the white wedding dress pattern at the top right of the pattern cover photo to not have the puff sleeves.  With this modification I had to decide how to finish off my armholes.  The single fold bias tape method seemed the best option, but I ran into an issue.  It was extremely difficult to find a color of tape that I liked.  I forgot my swatch of fabric the first time I went and now have a package of light blue single fold bias tape in my notions box that didn't match at all.  Then with a second trip came the process to the final choice.  I was thinking white at this point, like the butterflies I had found to add to the poof on the bodice (as seen and explained below). However I knew that would make it very obvious and I wanted it to be more subtle.  I came upon a darker blue at this point, rather a medium blue tone that I decided would work very well for the subtle, yet finished look that I desired.

So I finished up the bodice with the bias tape. Then made a basic, yet full skirt with the shower curtain organza fabric.  Gathering organza is a pain in the neck, to get it to lay still, but it came together fairly quick.  I made sure to save a bit of it for the poof at the top of the bodice, before sewing up the skirt.

After it was sewn together, then came the fun part.  Every night of the next two weeks was dedicated to hand sewing on little itty bitty seed beads for the little teeny tiny bit of sparkle I desired. I wanted it to catch the light, but I didn't want it to be obvious that it was beading that caused it.  It was supposed to be magic causing it to sparkle, not a trick of the light thrown off of beads.  I did at one point try to add small clear sequins, but they were too big.  So little itty bitty seed beads were sewn on in as random a fashion as I could.  Around and around the skirt until it was the fullness of sparkle that I desired.


After the skirt & bodice were done being sewn, it was time to add the poof around the shoulders. I had intended to incorporate the tube of sheer fabric into the the bodice as I put in the zipper and spaced, missing that step.  It ended up working itself out because my zipper application was sub-par. The two sides didn't line up with each other and there was a 3/8" difference.  The poof tube being separately installed helped me mask the mistake.


Once I'd sewn it onto the back, I hand tacked it around the top edge of the bodice, playing the divide, divide, divide game. Not whip stitching it completely down, only at strategic points helped it maintain it's poofy look.  Then for the butterflies.  They also helped with the final outcome of the structure of the poof.  Wherever one was placed and tacked in, it created another bit of definition until it was finally the desired, even randomness.


I made a headband like the one that was in the original movie and loved it, but I have a hard time wearing them.  I tried to wear it at the first event, putting my hair up like the original movie, adding in the head band, but it just didn't fit the design I had in mind.  So I changed to leaving my hair down as it is in the new live action version.  You'll see also that I wore the black ribbon necklace, like the original movie, at my first event.  But at the second event it wasn't worn.  It just didn't work either.  These things work themselves out the more the outfits are worn.  The second event was perfect in accessories, hair, and gown.

That is it for construction, hopefully you enjoyed walking through that process with me.  The next post will be in a day or two and it covers the Disneyland trip for Dapper Day!  Thanks for joining me. Until next time, happy sewing, dreaming and as Ella says, "Have courage and be kind."